Author: Josh Witten

http://www.thefinchandpea.com

Rock Out!?

What is science-y about stories of my kids being adorable. Well, on the one hand, they are statistically significantly more adorable than average*. If it helps, I also refer to them as our human genetics experiment (n=2)**.

Punkface MacGruder (2yo) to The Frogger (4yo): Sister, you want ROCK OUT!?

Me: Frogger, when someone asks you if you want to ROCK OUT!, you say “YES!”

* Which, I suppose, would be an example of unconscious bias influencing a study’s results – if it weren’t also true.

** Also, evolutionary theory dictates that my fitness is determined by children.

Words someone who does art wrote about why they make art

Author's impression of Michael Craig-Martin's "An Oak Tree"Our favorite coffee shop in Hartsville is The Midnight Rooster. It is home to “the crocodile table”, lattes made with a Southern sense of urgency, and delicious chocolate chip cookies. Today, my daughter, The Frogger, and I were passing some time between one errand and the next. The Midnight Rooster also has lots of art books from exhibitions. So, I got to read artist statements. Just back from ScienceOnline, my scientist soul is feeling properly chastised about the use of jargon.

Talk about jargon. We science nerds have nothing on these artists. Continue reading “Words someone who does art wrote about why they make art”

The Walking Dead’s Bloody Mess 3

Did you know that there is research showing that being exposed to “spoilers” increases enjoyment of a story? True. Do I think you believe me or the research? No. In fact, I think you will treat this evidence with the same condescension political pundits applied to the predictions of Nate Silver. Furthermore, I think you will completely ignore the object lesson afforded you by the 2012 election forecasting. Is this the most overwrought and evidence-laden spoiler alert ever? Yes. You have been warned.

Let’s get the first major spoiler out of the way. At the end of The Walking Dead season 2, we discover that you do not need to be bitten by a zombie to become a zombie. You merely have to die. This leads to a lot of scenes of survivors sticking pointy objects into the brain cases of their recently deceased or mortally wounded friends in a practical act of mercy.

If you die, you kind of lie there for a little bit – just long enough for a father and son to share a moment – then you rise up and get your zombie on. This means that everyone in The Walking Dead universe has been exposed to the zombie pathogen. All survivors are carriers – zombies in potentia. This also means that the zombie pathogen is even weirder than it already had to be. Continue reading “The Walking Dead’s Bloody Mess 3”

Linkonomicon 17

1. All your bird call are belong to Cornell (via Debby Schade via Greg Laden).
2. Know your dino – stylish, but are those brachiosaurus nostrils in the right place? (UPDATE: According to Brian Switek, the nostrils ARE in the right place)
3. Duke teaching science through cooking (via Ashley Yeager).
4. Timeline of world religions (via Maria Popova).
5. Surprisingly, pseudoscientific gender stereotypes won’t solve gender inequality in science.

The Walking Dead’s Bloody Mess 2 [repost]

Originally posted on 17 May 2012, we are reposting this piece to make sure you are adequately prepared for The Walking Dead to return from hiatus on AMC Sunday, 10 February 2013 at 9PM (ET). We’ll have a third post in this series for you on Saturday. 

*SPOILER ALERT*

Previously on The Walking Dead’s Bloody Mess. . .

. . .we discussed how incredibly unlikely it would be that Rick would be the only available blood donor for Carl among the group of survivors on Hershel’s farm1. This led us2 to wonder what the blood type of his mother, Lori Grimes, might be. It is not at all unusual for a parent to not be a compatible donor for their child, especially for a direct transfusion. Lori is pregnant and her blood type could be important to the health of the wee baby Grimes (WBG). Continue reading “The Walking Dead’s Bloody Mess 2 [repost]”